1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pod combine and more particularly to a pod combine that includes a portable harvester and a thresher.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,483 entitled "Multi-Row, Multi-Crop Harvester" discloses a self-propelled harvesting machine for harvesting different types of crops such as snap beans, lima beans, peas, dry beans and the like. The harvester is arranged to strip the foliage and product in the pod from the plants leaving a substantial portion of vines still rooted in the ground. The pods and extraneous foliage are deposited in a receiver and transported to a processing station where the product in the pods and the extraneous foliage are introduced into a thresher or viner similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,628 entitled "Viner". In the fixed viner or threshing device the pods are opened and the product, i.e. peas, lima beans, soybeans and the like, is separated from the pods and extraneous foliage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,988 discloses a legume harvester with an auger feed that harvests the leguminous crop and conveys the leguminous crop and extraneous vines and foliage by means of a rotating auger into a threshing device where the pods are opened and the shelled crop collected in a receiver. The harvester disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,988 includes a screw type conveyor to convey the material from the harvester portion of the machine to the auger connected to the impeller. A plurality of impellers with radially extending beaters are positioned within the thresher portion of the machine to open the pods and collect the product. The auger type feed connected to one of the impellers limits substantially the volume of product that can be processed during a given period of time and, therefore, limits the productivity of the harvester.
There is a need for a mobile combined harvester and thresher that harvests at a high rate of speed and efficiently separates the product from the pods and foliage and collects the product.